Deck 8: Understanding the Past: Archaeological and Paleoanthropological Methods

Question 1

The term 'hominin' refers to:

A) all great apes
B) modern humans and now extinct bipedal relatives
C) all bipedal apes
D) only modern humans
E) only extinct bipedal relatives

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is the most common means of site survey?

A) aerial photos
B) satellite imagery
C) ground penetrating radar
D) pedestrian fieldwork
E) remote sensing

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which one of the following is NOT one of the primary goals of archaeology?

A) determine the "when" and "where" of past cultures
B) reconstruct past lifeways
C) explain past cultural events
D) explore cognitive and symbolic dimensions of past humans
E) disregard the oldest evidence of early hominins

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Protohominis lived approximately

A) 200,000 years ago
B) 1 - 2.5 mya
C) 2.5 - 5 mya
D) 5 - 7 mya
E) over 10 mya

Question 5

Artifacts are typically defined as:

A) any non-portable evidence of human activity
B) any evidence that was made or modified by people in the past
C) any evidence of past environment
D) only stone tools, like arrowheads
E) any place with evidence of human activity

Question 6

Culture is defined by which of the following characteristics?
a. economic activities
b. symbolic communication
c. social organization
d. material culture
e. cognitive, political, social, economic and technological components

Question 7

Which of the following would NOT be helpful in reconstruction the local paleoecological setting in which early hominins lived?

A) animal bones washed into a stream bed
B) a piece of pottery found within a storage pit
C) an assortment of sharp stone tools next to a butchered carcass
D) wood charcoal found within a hearth
E) anatomical relationships between humans and contemporary nonhuman primates

Question 8

The overall study of fossil hominins is known as:

A) physical anthropology
B) ethnography
C) paleoanthropology
D) archaeology
E) ethology

Question 9

Which of the following would NOT be an example of a feature?

A) a human burial with grave goods
B) a circular arrangement of stones around wood charcoal
C) a pyramid
D) the foundation stones of a hut
E) plant and animal remains

Question 10

The study of the human past, primarily through material remains, is known as:

A) paleoanthropology
B) archaeology
C) ethnographic
D) cultural anthropology
E) physical anthropology

Question 11

Which of the following is a justification for conducting archaeological excavation?

A) to determine that all the 2,000 year old sites that exist were laid down 2.000 years ago.
B) most professional attitudes toward excavations have remained the same for over two centuries.
C) most information cannot be provided through site survey
D) excavation is not destructive
E) data is needed about specific important questions or sites are threatened with destruction

Question 12

Which of the following statements about tool use by the earliest protohominins is correct?

A) Stone tools were regularly manufactured.
B) They formed a central part of trade strategies.
C) They likely used tools in a manner similar to modern chimpanzees and bonobos.
D) They are identified as tools by archaeologists.
E) They were stones that were sharpened.

Question 13

The interaction of both physical and cultural aspects of hominin behavior is known as a biocultural evolution
B) mosaic evolution
C) bio-cognition
D) taphonomy
E) paleoecology

Question 14

What do archaeologists assume is the source of the organization and structure of the archaeological record?

A) past human behavior
B) geologic processes
C) stratigraphic succession
D) primary contexts
E) home-based foraging

Question 15

Which of the following terms best defines an ecofact?

A) any non-portable evidence of human behavior
B) any portable evidence of human behavior
C) any location with evidence of human occupation
D) any evidence of past environments
E) the ecological niche of a hominin species

Question 16

Taphonomy is defined as:

A) the precise temporal and spatial relationship between artifacts and features
B) the study of hominin locomotion
C) the study of how bones and other materials become buried and preserved as part of the archaeological record
D) the study of past environment
E) establishing chronological relationships within a site

Question 17

Which of the following types of evidence of hominin behavior are most likely available for study?

A) cognitive aspects
B) economic components
C) political aspects
D) material culture
E) social structure

Question 18

The non-intrusive method of discovering archaeological sites is known as:

A) excavation
B) reclamation
C) site survey
D) field work
E) taphonomy

Question 19

The earliest artifact sites are from the Gona and Bouri areas, dating to

A) 7 mya
B) 2.6 mya
C) 500,000 years ago
D) 1.5 mya
E) 5 mya

Question 20

Why are stone tools important for reconstructing the human past?

A) They are the aspect of culture most often preserved.
B) They represent the most important part of culture.
C) They define the home range.
D) Tool use is a unique to hominins.
E) They are always manufactured.

Question 21

Which of the following is NOT an example of a radiometric dating technique?

A) radiocarbon
B) paleomagnetism
C) potassium argon
D) thermoluminescence
E) argon-argon

Question 22

Radiometric dating techniques are based on what principle?

A) sunspot activity
B) regular, known rate of isotopic decay
C) regular changes in earth's magnetic field
D) superposition
E) competitive exclusion

Question 23

The archaeological record is typically contained within locations of past human activity, called

A) features
B) sites
C) primary context
D) regions
E) ecofacts

Question 24

Which of the following refers to the process of attaching a handle to a tool?

A) haft
B) hilt
C) fix
D) flake
E) artifact

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT an example of a relative dating technique?

A) biostratigraphy
B) cross-dating
C) seriation
D) paleomagnetism
E) stratigraphy

Question 26

Which of the following dating techniques relies on the regular growth of tree rings?

A) Radiocarbon
B) K-Ar
C) Dendrochronology
D) Paleomagnetism
E) Seriation

Question 27

The Oldowan is defined as part of what tradition:

A) Lower Paleolithic
B) Protohominin
C) Late Stone Age
D) Middle Paleolithic
E) Late Paleolithic

Question 28

Which absolute dating technique is most commonly used on archaeological sites younger than 50,000 years?

A) radiocarbon
B) thermoluminescence
C) argon-argon
D) calendars
E) fission track

Question 29

Examples of relative dating includes:

A) assigning a specific calendar date
B) telling the rough age in years
C) determining whether an object is older, younger, or the same age as another
D) a seldom-used means of determining the age of an archaeological material
E) determining the radioactive decay rates of a burned object

Question 30

What is greatest contribution of Olduvai research?

A) establishment of a well documented sequence of hominin occupation
B) identification of the earliest stone tools
C) contributed to understanding of the origins of bipedalism
D) identification of the earliest hominins
E) discovery of the first anatomically modern human

Question 31

Seriation uses what principle to determine the ages of materials?

A) patterned changes in material culture
B) material similarity
C) faunal correlation
D) the principle of superposition
E) radiocarbon decay

Question 32

Reconstructing human technology and material culture as a means of generating testable ideas about the past is known as:

A) experimental archaeology
B) processual archaeology
C) ethnoarchaeology
D) ethology
E) paleoanthropology

Question 33

The principle of superposition is a key component of what relative dating technique?

A) biostratigraphy
B) cross-dating
C) seriation
D) paleomagnetism
E) stratigraphy

Question 34

Which absolute dating technique is most often used on hominin sites?

A) radiocarbon
B) thermoluminescence
C) fluorine analysis
D) potassium argon
E) dendrochronology

Question 35

The spatial and temporal relationships between artifacts and features is known as:

A) context
B) taphonomy
C) palynology
D) absolute dating
E) site survey

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT a reason why Olduvai Gorge is an important source of information on hominin evolution?

A) exposures of deep geologic strata
B) ability to use radiometric dating techniques on volcanic sediments
C) rapid sedimentation
D) presence of complex stratigraphy
E) extensive settlement of agriculturalists

Question 37

The study of contemporary human societies as a means of understanding the past is known as:

A) experimental archaeology
B) processual archaeology
C) ethnoarchaeology
D) ethology
E) paleoanthropology

Question 38

If you were digging a hominin site that contains geological layers that resulted from volcanic activity, what dating technique would you most likely use?

A) radiocarbon
B) thermoluminescence
C) potassium-argon
D) biostratigraphy
E) uranium series

Question 39

The key artifacts in the Oldowan tool tradition are:

A) chopper tools
B) manuports
C) flake tools
D) handaxes
E) hammerstones

Question 40

The process of assigning an absolute age of materials is known as:

A) context dating
B) stratigraphic succession
C) relative dating
D) chronometric dating
E) calendric succession

Question 41

To achieve any meaningful understanding of human origins we necessarily examine only the cultural information about the past.

Question 42

What is paleoanthropology?

Question 43

Experimental archaeology involves replicating past technology as a means of producing testable inferences about the past.

Question 44

Seriation dates objects using the principle of superposition.

Question 45

Many unmodified rocks of types that are not present in the geology of the immediate vicinity are just rocks and have nothing to do with behavior of early hominins.

Question 46

Tool use is not a characteristic unique to hominins.

Question 47

The Lower Paleolithic is a term used to describe the culture of the earliest hominins.

Question 48

Although there are important behavioral features of humans the most distinctive is not our extraordinary elaboration of and dependence on culture.

Question 49

Paleoanthropology involves input from geology, ecology, and ethology.

Question 50

The home-based forager model of hominin behavior proposed that Olduvai Gorge reflected what behavior?

A) use as a central hunting location
B) use as a prominent location for the manufacture of Oldowan tools
C) the natural accumulation of animal bones
D) use as a multi-purpose campsite
E) use of weapons

Question 51

What are the characteristics of human culture?

Question 52

Humans differ from other animals in the extent to which they employ symbolic communication.

Question 53

Hominin occupations at Olduvai Gorge, without doubt, represent a home-base foraging pattern.

Question 54

One interpretation of Oldowan sites is that they served as stockpiles, or caches, for raw materials such as manuports in anticipation of future use.

Question 55

What is a hominin?

Question 56

Why is paleoanthropology considered to be a multi-disciplinary field of study?

Question 57

The various components of hominin biocultural evolution development simultaneously.

Question 58

Potassium argon dating is typically used on hominin sites.

Question 59

All aspects of the past cultures, even the most distant, can be easily reconstructed through archaeological research.

Question 60

Absolute or chronometric dating always relies on the principle of radioactive decay.

Question 61

List and define the goals of archaeology.

Question 62

What are three relative dating techniques? Provide an example.

Question 63

What is archaeology?

Question 64

What are ethnoarchaeology and experimental archaeology? How are they used to provide information about past lifeways? Give an example of each.

Question 65

What are chronometric dating techniques? Provide an example.

Question 66

Describe the process of archaeological research, the types of information that comprise the archaeological record, and the techniques available for reconstructing the past.

Question 67

What is the value of artifacts in archaeological research?

Question 68

Where is the Olduvai Gorge and why is it an important location for understanding human evolution? What interpretations, and by whom, have been offered to explain the nature of hominin behavior at this site?

Question 69

Define paleoanthropology and describe the nature and process of paleoanthropological research.

Question 70

Discuss the value of dating techniques available to scientists. Compare and contrast relative and absolute dating techniques: provide an example of each kind and describe how they work.

Question 71

Why is ethnoarchaeology important to the study of past human behavior? Provide an example.

Question 72

Define the goals of archaeological research and the techniques used in archaeological research projects.

Question 73

What types of features and artifacts that characterize the Oldowan tradition?

Question 74

What is meant by biocultural evolution?

Question 75

Who are the Leakeys, and what is their claim to paloeanthropological fame?

Question 76

What is the importance of experimental archaeology? Provide an example.

Question 77

Define the difference between relative and absolute measures of age. Give examples of each.

Question 78

Does the home based foraging pattern adequately describe the Oldowan sites?

Question 79

What is ethnoarchaeology and its value to the overall understanding of the archaeological record?